Taylor Berger’s latest venture aims to ‘Make Memphis’ a better place

So many Memphians are working on so many parts of the same general movement that it’s only natural there would be a tendency to question whether all of those efforts toward a more innovative Memphis could be folded into each other or consolidated in some way.

1982: U2 opened for J. Geils Band at the Auditorium. It was the second Memphis show by U2 who had played the previous year at The Music Hall, a nightspot on Madison Avenue, west of McLean Boulevard. After the Auditorium date, the band dropped in at Miller’s Cave, a Frayser bar, and played two songs with the Miller Brothers Band.

Shelby County Schools superintendent Dorsey Hopson said he will seek funding before the new fiscal year that begins July 1 for a new Westhaven Elementary School and possibly two other new schools in southeast and northwest Shelby County.

Airlines adding flights to evolving Memphis International Airport

When the first Frontier Airlines jet kicking off regular service at Memphis International Airport arrives Friday, March 7, from Denver at gate C7, it will symbolize just how much the airport has changed. It is also an indication of how the airport continues to evolve.

The current provost at the University of Memphis, a former president of the University of Alabama, a vice chancellor at the University of Arkansas and the provost of the College of Charleston are the four finalists to become the next president of the University of Memphis.

Coming off a year in which it found a home at the Buckman Performing Arts Center and released a CD of its music, the Memphis Repertory Orchestra – a small, all-volunteer chamber group – is looking to do even bigger things in 2014.

The Tuesday, March 4, discussion Memphis City Council members had with Tennessee Comptroller Justin Wilson, Tennessee Treasurer David Lillard and consultants from four actuarial firms centered on the city’s pension liability.

Urban agriculture movement grows in Memphis

The vacant homes and lots on Jennette Place near Walker Avenue and Mississippi Boulevard in South Memphis began germinating like an urban form of kudzu. They appeared like an invasive species in this proud neighborhood, spreading quickly, choking the life from viable properties and growing into a scourge that at one point seemed impossible to eradicate.

Shelby County Election Commissioners could complete the ballot for the May Shelby County primary elections Wednesday, March 5, by deciding on challenges to the residency of three candidates in the Democratic primaries.

Local teams get creative to maintain, attract season-ticket holders

The only active row-crop farmer in Congress has been on the road the last month talking particulars of a very complex farm bill with farmers not only in his West Tennessee district, which includes part of Memphis, but in five other states and other parts of Tennessee.

Environmental Court Judge Larry Potter, reversing a previous decision, upheld a 2013 transfer of Ashlar Hall from Robert “Prince Mongo” Hodges to an acquaintance who wants to turn the stately but decaying property into a home for military veterans.

As President Barack Obama talked from the East Room of the White House last week about violence and young African-American men and boys, Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. was among a group of mayors meeting in New Orleans who say they are ready to back a new approach to the problem.

Cowork Memphis developing entrepreneurial resource, educational hub

The new Cowork Memphis venture in Cooper-Young has quickly developed into a resource and educational hub for freelancers and other busy professionals, helped in part by participation from entrepreneurs like Michael Nunn.

The five Memphis seniors talked about their college basketball careers and they sounded older, wiser. And although nobody used this word, maybe a little scared about what might, or might not, come next.

It was about 40 years ago that Walt and Violet Exline were looking for a home in Raleigh and stopped with their Realtor to eat lunch at a pizza parlor at the corner of Austin Peay Highway and Stage Road.

WHAT’S FOR BREAKFAST? I’m skeptical of city pep rallies because they tend to be more about the pep than any solutions worth rallying around, the cheerleading more cheering than leading. I’m also skeptical of anyone who’s particularly peppy first thing in the morning.

As college graduates prepare to enter the working world in May, corporations begin to ramp up their hiring. More jobs are posted, and recruiters increase their search efforts. Even if you graduated from college years or decades ago, this can be a perfect time to look for a new opportunity.

Ray’s Take: When thinking about your future, do you believe that you will be taken “feet first in a pine box” out of the home you worked so hard for during your younger years? Or do you sometimes get that uncomfortable feeling that you need to “knock on wood” as you look around at friends or acquaintances who have experienced a sudden change in health forcing a change in venue?

The Look Back This time last year we predicted that 2013 would revive investor animal spirits. In fact, investors were downright euphoric last year, absolutely gorging themselves on stocks, buying at a record pace.

Given the increasingly shorter attention span of today’s Web user, it’s no wonder Twitter’s looping video app – Vine – is crawling its way into brand marketing strategies across the globe. At more than 40 million users in just over a year, it’s making a run at Instagram, now over three years old with more than 150 million users.

Part two of a two-part series on alumni fundraising. Alumni associations offer memberships and raise funds for the colleges and universities they are associated with. Many are independent nonprofit organizations; others operate as part of the institution’s alumni relations department.

I resisted the computer age. I really did. Then one of my generation’s early adopters encouraged me to buy a Leading Edge computer. My life was forever changed. No more Wite-Out correction fluid or carbon paper. I was free.